Machine for printing from stencils



(No Model.) 3 Sl1eetsSheet 1.

T. H. STAOKI-IOUSE. MAGHINE FOR PRINTING PROM STENGILS.

Patented Jan. 23,1894.

WITNESSESz 1 INVENTOR a M m-A @AM a- [1 2 LITNOGRAPNING wniuuqwlv. a. c.

' (No Model.) 3 sneets -sneen 2. T. H. STAOKHOUSE. MACHINE FOR PRINTINGFROM STENOILS.

No. 513,212. Patented Jan. 23 1894.

lNVliNTOR JAM flz M 2 Patenped Jan. 23, 1894.

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INVENTOR 0751M. fl-

OTI- T Hm n E N I H nu A M (No Model.)

WITNESS-ES:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS H. STAOKHOUSE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE FO'R PRINTING -FROM STENCILS.

.="'EECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 513,212, datedJanuary 23, 1894.

Application filed Tanuary 14:, 1893.

To all whom it may concern- Be it known that I, THOMAS H. STACK- HOUSE,a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city and county ofPhiladelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Machines for Printing from Stencils, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in machines for printing fromstencils, and more particularly to improvements in reciprocatingmachines for printing from stencils formed upon prepared sheets of papereither by perforation or abrasion, and the object of my invention is tofurnish a machine of this char acter which will be simple andinexpensive in construction, which may be operated more rapidly thanmachines heretofore constructed for this purpose and with less wear anddanger of accident to the stencil.

My stenciling machine consists of a stationary bed plate upon which ismounted an open carriage which carries the frame which carries the thestencil. An inking roller is mounted upon arms pivoted to the bed plateand is adapted to ink the top of the stencihand a rolling platen carriedupon suitable .bearings is adapted topress the paper to be printed upagainst the bottom of the stencil. This platen is placed preferablydirectly beneath the inking roller, and the inking roller and platen areso arranged as to bear,the former against. the stencil, and the latteragainst the paper to receive the impression from the stencil. Upon theshaft of the platen are gear wheels, and upon the carriage which carriesthe stencil are racks gearing into and driving these gear wheels and theplaten. Upon the shaft of the inking roll are gear wheels gearing .intoand driven by the gear wheels on shaft of platen. These gears are soproportioned as to drive the inking roll and platen at exactly the samespeed as the carriage and stencil. Hence the stencil is never subjectedto any torsional or other strains which might impair its usefulness andshorten its life.

My invention consists further in devices for separating the inking-rolland platen when the carriageis upon its backward stroke, in devices forholding and guiding the paper on its way to be printed, and forreceiving it seria1ro.45s,s52. (N0 model.)

after having been printed, andin other details hereinafter fullydescribed.

In the accom panying drawings forming part of this specification, and inwhich similar letters of reference indicate similar parts throughout theseveral views, Figure 1, is a top view or plan of my printing machine;Fig. 2, a side elevation of Fig.1; Fig. 3, a horizontal sectionalelevation of Fig. 1 on line 1-2; Fig. 4, a transverse sectionalelevation of Fig. 1 on line 3-4; Fig. 5, a plan of front part of paperfeeding table, and" Fig. 6, a side elevation of. the central part of mymachine, showing the inking roll and its connected parts thrown upward;Fig. 7, a front view of the adjustable pieces V, W, carried on the.forward ends of the arms I, L.

A, is the stationary bed plate of my ma chine which is preferablyconstructed of metal.

B, is a carriage mounted and adapted to slide upon the bed plate.

In the drawings I haveshown the carriage mounted and sliding upon rails0, Figs. 1, 3 and 4, which are upon the inner part of the sides of thebed plate and which maybe cast with the bed plate, or formed separatelyand bolted to it.

C are clamps or guides which are secured to the lower part of thecarriage and which pass around and under the rails C, as shown in Fig.4, and prevent the carriage from being lifted from therails.

D, is a stencil holding frame. This frame is constructed of two pieces;the lower piece a being somewhat narrower than the upper piece and itsupper face being furnished with a groove b, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4,and its upper part. 0 being furnished upon its lower face with a tonguecl adapted to enter the groove 1) in the lower part. The upper part c ofthe frame is L shaped as shown and is secured to the lower part by meansof hooks e, or in any other substantial manner. The stencil is clampedand stretched between the bottom and top parts of the frame, thepeculiar shape of which holds it firmly.

While I prefer to use a frame constructed as shown it will be understoodthat any of the and holding stencils may be used.

My device for holding the stencil frame to the carriage consists of twoor more '1 shaped springs E, Figs. 1 and 3, which are carried by theforward end and preferably at opposite sides of the carriage. Thesesprings or pieces of metal bear against the forward end and top of theframe and clamp this part of the frame securely to the carriage. Theframe is prevented from moving sidewise by flanges F projecting upwardfrom the carriage and against which the sides of the frame bear.The-rear of the frame is held down against the carriage by means ofclamps G which are carried by the carriage and which are furnished withoblong heads which may be turned sidewise so as to release thisend ofthe frame when it may be desired to remove the frame from thecarriage.The inking roll H is carried upon arms I pivoted to the sides of the bedplate at J. Directly beneath the inking roll is a platen K, the shaft ofwhich is carried-upon arms L whichare pivoted to the sides of :the bedplate preferably at J. arms L, and the platen are supported by, means ofsprings M, the upper ends of which:

bear against the lower part of the forward ends of the arms L and thelower ends of which may bear against a leg or bracket N extending fromthe bed plate.

side of the carriage; these racks gear into shaft of platen K.

of the stencil.

stencil along one line at one time.

by the rack; 01' the rack 0 might have teeth upon its top similartothose uponits bottom which would drive gear R and inking roll H or therack 0 may be reversed and engage.

the gear R and thegear B would then engage the gear P. This latterconstruction would be preferable in certain classes of machines. Duringthe backward stroke of the carriage the inking roll is lifted and theplaten lowered so that both will be completely out of contact with thestencil.

My device for separating therolls consists The Upon the carriage B, andrunning lengthwise with this carriage, are racks 0, one preferably uponeach of double faced cams S, one of whichis placed on each side of thebed plate, and which travels upon guides T carried by suitable bracketsU carried by the frame A. Upon the arms Y'the former upon the front ofthe carriage, and the latter upon the rear. These tappets are adapted toengage the ends of the cam S and slide it forward or backward on theguide T. In the drawings the carriage is shown as at the forward end ofits stroke, the tappet-s Y have engaged and moved forward the cams S,the inclined faces of which have engaged and lifted the engaging piecesV-W, carried by arms IL, and the ink roll and platen are moved away fromthe stencil. When the carriage iisdrawn back and just before it reachesthe end of its stroke the tappets Y engage the forward end of camS andmove this cam back allowing the arms IL to fall and thei-nk roller andplatento en-j 1 arms, maybe used to draw the ink rollermore R, are gearwheels fast to shaft of inking i roll Hand which during the forwardstroke of the carriage and stencil are in gear with I and driven by thegears P, but which during the return stroke of the carriage and stencilare lifted from the gears P. During the forward or printing stroke ofthe carriage and stencil the inking roll H bears upon'the top 1 of thestencil, and the platen K presses the paper to be printed firmly againstthe bottom The rack 0 drives gear wheel P and platen K at exactly thesame speed. 1 Consequently there is no strain upon the stenf cil whileit is in action which-would be liable f to injure it. "It will benoticed that the inking roll and platen, the latter of which is directlybeneath the former, only engage the It will be I obvious that the gearwheel-R may be driven by a rack, similar to the rack 0, instead of beingdriven by gear wheel P which is driven firmly against the stencil. Itwillbe seen that by means of screws B the tension of the springs A maybe regulated as desired.

A front view of the adjustable pieces V, W, is shown in Fig. 7. v

The paper feeding tableD isplaced within and at the rear of the frameforming theJ-bed plate. This table is adjustable both vertically andhorizontally and it should be so placed that a continuation ofits toplinewill be tangent, or nearly tangent, to the upper part of the platenroll when this latter is lowered as shown in Fig. 3.

Various devices may beemployed to make the table D adjustable. I haveshown the table furnished with lugs E which project from its bottom andwhich are furnished with slots E E, are slots in the sides of the bedplate A, which are at right angles, or nearly so, to slots E in lugs E.E is a threaded nut or washer which screw Etenters, and by means ofwhich and the screw, the table may be securely attached to the bedplate. The slots in the bed plate and lugs permit a movement of thetable for adjustment.

F, G are adjustable paper guides carried by table D. The guide F isplaced at the rear of the table and has a screw F passing through it andthrough a slot F in the table A thumb nut F on screw F -draws the headof this screw up against the bottom of the table, and forces the guide Fagainst the top of the table and locks the guide at the desired point onthe table, the slot F permitting the guide and screw to be movedbackward or forward as may be necessary for different lengths of paper.The guide G, has a screw Gr passing through it and through a slot Gplaced preferably at right angles to slot F A thumb nut G operates inconjunction with screw G to lock the guide G at any point on the slot GThe guide G is set either in or out as may be necessary for sheets ofpaper of different widths.

H, Fig. 3,is a box which is placed in front of the platen K and whichreceives the printed sheets of paper as they pass from the machine.

I is a handle attached to the rear part of the carriage and by means ofwhich the carriage may be operated;

Attached to or forming part of the arms I which carry the inking roll H,is a frame J which is furnished with suitable bearings in which shaftsare journale'd which carry a train of ink evening and distributing rollsK, K K K The lower rolls K K are journaled in fixed bearings in theframe J. The upper I rolls K, K may be journaled in fixed bearings inthe sides of this frame, but I prefer to journal the ends of their shaftin separate pieces or bars of metal L, L which are secured in anadjustable manner to the frame J so that the upper rollers may betightly forced against the lower rolls K K and the inking roll 11, ormay be lifted entirely clear of these rolls.

In the drawings I have shown the metal pieces L L, which carry the upperrolls, furnished with threaded studs 'M which pass through slots N inthe sides of the frame J. Thumb nuts 0, on threaded studs can beoperated to hold the bearing pieces L so as to force the upper rollsagainst the lower, or to hold them entirely out of contact.

The rolls beingmade of a composition which becomes more or less soft andsticky in warm weather, it is advisable to separate them when not inuse.

Ihav'e shown in the drawings a train of four ink distributing rolls;it'will be understood however that this number of rolls may be increasedor diminished if desired;

In inking the roll H, the ink is first placed upon the outside roll Kfor instance, by dropping it upon this roll'from the tubes in which theink is usually sold, and the roll H being lifted fromthe stencil asshown in Fig. 3, is revolved by means of a crank P, Figs. 1 and 4, whichis attached to the shaft of this roll. The roll H, drives by frictionthe train of rolls K K K K and the ink which has been placed upon roll Kis rolled out and evenly distributed upon all parts of the rollers bythe time that it reaches the inking roll, upon; which it is placed in aperfectly even manner.

To remove the stencil frame from the carriage, this latter is drawn backto theend of its stroke and the arms carrying the inking roll and itsconnected parts are thrown back as shown in Fig. 6,in which positionthey are completely out of theway. The clamps G are now turned so as torelease the rear end of the stencil frame, which may then be withdrawnfrom the springs E which secure its forward end and lifted from thecarriage.

I am aware that reciprocating machines for printing from stencils havebefore been used, but all the machines of this kind that I am familiarwith are furnished with a solidcarriage which forms the platen and whichworks tangentially to and drives the inking roll by the friction of thestencil passing in contact with the said roll. The strains put upon thestencil by devices of this kind are very severe and greatly shorten itslife, while the printing done by them is apt to be more or less blurredand unsatisfactory. Having these defects in view I have furnished ameans as hereinbefore described for independently driving the inkingroll, the roll and stencil being always driven at exactly the samespeed. I have also done away with the flat platen and have made mycarriage with an open center, the paper to be printed being held upagainst the bottom of the stenoil by a rolling platen which is moved bygearing at the same speed as the stencil, and which carries the paperalong with the stencil, and discharges it at the front of the machinewithout it being necessary to lift the stencil and its frame from itsbed, as is necessary in machines of this class heretofore in use, andwhich has been found very objecr tionable, not only in that it takestime, but also in that the suction between the stencil and the paper, orthe solid fiat platen upon which the paper rests, tends to draw andcrack or tear the stencil.

In operating my device the carriage and; its connected parts are firstmoved forward. as shown in Fig. 3; the paper is placed upon the feedingtable D; the paper guides F G having been first set to hold the rear endand one side of the paper, which projects over the forward end of thetable and slightly over the platen K, as shown in Fig. 3. The carriageis now drawn back, the tappers Y engage the forward end of the cam S andmove it back, and the ink roll H falls upon the stencil and the springsM lift the platen up, which forces the paper against the bottom of thestencil. The carriage is now pushed forward, themo're rapidly thebetter, and the ink is forced from ITO the ink roll through the stenciland the characters upon this latter are printed upon the paper duringits passage over the platen. vUpon the completion of the stroke thepaper can be operated by power if desired instead of by hand.

Vhile I have described my stencil carrying frame as detachably securedto the carriage I do not desire to confine myself to this constructionas it, if desired, may form part of the carriage. It will be obviousthat any suitable means may be employed for clamping the removablestencil frame to the carriage, and while I prefer to use the means thatI have shown for this purpose, still Ido not desire to confine myselfsolely to these means.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. In a stenciling machine, in combination, an inkingroll, a platen, a stencil adapted to be reciprocated, and mechanismwhereby said inking roll and platen are caused to move at the same speedas that of said stencil.

2. In a stenciling machine, in combination, astencil adapted to bereciprocated, means for supporting the same, an inking roll adapted tobear against one side of said stencil, a cylindrical platen adapted tohold the paper against the other side of said stencil, and mechanism forpositively driving said inking roll and platen, at the same speed asthat of said stencil.

3. In a stenciling machine, in combination, an inking roll, acylindrical platen, and a stencil adapted to be reciprocated, means forsupporting said devices, and positive gearing by which said devices arecaused to move at a uniform speed.

4. In a stenciling machine, in combination, a stencil adapted to bereciprocated, an inking roll located upon one side of said stencil, arolling platen located upon the other side of said stencil, and adaptedto hold the paper up against the same, means for driving th inking rolland platen, means for bringing th e inking roll, in the movement of thestencil in one direction, into contact with the stencil, and means forthrowing the inking roll, in the movement of the stencil in the oppositedirection, out of contact with the stencil.

5. In a stenciling machine, in combination, a stencil adapted to bereciprocated, an inking roll located upon one side of said stencil, arolling platen located upon the other side of said stencil and adaptedto hold the paper against the same, means for driving the inking rolland platen, means for bringing th inking roll,in the movement of thestencil in one direction, into contact with the stencil and the rollingplaten into contact with the paper beneath the stencil, and means forthrowing the inking roll and platen, in the movement of the stencil inthe opposite direction, out of contact with said stencil and paperrespectively.

6. In astenciling machine,in combination, a stencil adapted to bereciprocated, an inking roll located upon one side of said stencil, arolling platen located upon the other side of said stencil, and adaptedto hold the paper against the same, mechanism for driving the inkingroll and platen at the same speed as that of the stencil, means forbringing the inking roll, in the movement of the stencil in onedirection, into contact with the stencil, and means for throwing theinking roll, in the movement of the stencil in the opposite direction,out of contact with said stencil.

7. In astenciling machine,in combination, a stencil adapted to bereciprocated, an inking roll located upon one side of said stencil, arolling platen located upon the other side of said stencil and adaptedto hold the paper up against the same, mechanism for driving the inkingroll and platen at the same speed as that of the stencil, means forbringing the inking roll, in the movement of the stencil in onedirection, into contact with the stencil and the rolling platen intocontact with the paper beneath the stencil, and means for throwing theinking roll and platen, in the movement of the stencil in the, oppositedirection, out of contact with said stencil and paper respectively.

8. In a stenciling machine, in combination, an inking roll, a platen,and a stencil holder adapted to be moved between said roll and platen,means for automatically throwing the inking roll into and out of contactwith the stencil at predetermined points of the travel of the latter,substantially as set forth.

9. In a stenciling machine, in combination, an inking roll, a rollingplaten, and a stencil holder adapted to be moved between said roll andplaten, and means for automatically throwing the inking roll and rollingplaten into and out of contact with the stencil at predetermined pointsof the travel of the latter, substantially as set forth.

10. The combination with a reciprocating carriage and means forsupporting and reciprocating the same, a stencil carried by thiscarriage, a platen and an inking roll, of a rack or racks carried bysaid carriage, a gear wheel or wheels carried by shaft of said inkingroll, and an intermediate gear wheel or wheels gearing into said racksand gear wheels on said inking roll.

1 1. The combination in a stenciling machine of a reciprocating carriageand means for supporting the same, a stencil frame and stencil carriedby this carriage, an inking roll, a cylindrical platen, a rack carriedby said carriage, a gear on the shaft of said platen engaging said rack,and a gear on the shaft of said inking roll engaging the gear on theshaft of said platen.

12. The combination in a stenciling machine of a reciprocating carriage,a bed plate upon which said carriage works, a stencil frame and stencilcarried by said carriage an inking roll and cylindrical platen, armspivoted to said bed plate and upon which the shaft of said roll andplaten are carried and means substantially as described for moving saidroll IZC and platen into contact with said stencil during the forward orprinting movement of the latter, and for moving them out of contact withsaid stencil during its backward or non printing movement.

13. The combination with the bed plate, the reciprocating carriagemounted upon the bed plate and the stencil carrying frame and stencilcarried by said carriage, of the inking roll and cylindrical platen,arms pivoted to said bed plate and carrying said roll and platen,springs for supporting the arms carrying said platen, guides carried bysaid bed plate, donble faced cams sliding on said guides, tappetscarried by said carriage and adapted to move said cams and adjustablecontact pieces carried by said arms and engaging the faces of said cams,all substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

14:. The combination with the inking roll and platen and the arms whichcarry this roll and platen of adjustable contact pieces carried by saidarms, cams adapted to engage said contact pieces, guides upon which saidcams slide, a reciprocating carriage and devices carried by saidcarriage and adapted to actuate said cams. I

15. The combinationin a stenciling machine of a reciprocating carriage,means for supporting said carriage, a stencil carried by said carriage,an inking roll and cylindrical platen and means for separating saidinking roll and platen from contact with the stencil during the nonprinting movement of the machine.

16. The combination with the'inking roll and the arms which carry it, ofa frame attached to or forming part of said arms, two or more inkdistributing rolls journaled in bearings in said frame, and two or moreink distributing rolls journaled in bearings in bars adjust-ablyattached to said frames and adapted to engage said lower inkdistributing rolls and the main inking roll.

17. The combination with the bed plate, a reciprocating carriage andstencil carried on said bed plate, an inking roll and arms one end ofwhich carries said inking roll and the other ends of which are pivotallyattached to said bed plate, of springs one end of which is at- 19. Thecombination in a stenciling machine of a bed plate a carriage having anopen center carried by and adapted to be reciprocated upon said bedplate, a stencil carrying frame and a stencil carried by said carriage,an ink roller adapted to ink the top of said stencil, a platen adaptedto hold the paperto be printed against the bottom of said stencil, andmechanism substantially as described for driving said inking roll andsaid platen at the same speed and in the same direction as said stencil.

20. The combination in a stenciling machine of a bed plate, an opencarriage reciprocating thereon, a stencil and frame carried by saidcarriage, means for clamping said stencil frame to said carriage, aninking roll, an ink mixing roll or rolls in contact with said inkingroll, a cylindrical platen, a'gear wheel or wheels carried by theshaftof said platen and engaging with a rack or racks carried by saidreciprocating 'carriage,agear or gears carried by the shaft of saidinking roll and engaging with agear or gears carried by the shaft ofsaid platen, arms pivoted to said bed plate and carrying said inkingroll and platen,springs for supporting the arms carrying said platen,adjustable springs connecting the arms carrying said inking roll withthe bed plate, guides carried by said bed-plate, double faced camssliding on said guides, adjustable tappets carried by said carriage andadapted -to move said cams, adjustable contact pieces carried by saidarms and engaging the faces of said cams, an adjustable feeding table,adjustable guides carried thereon, and a box for receiving and holdingthe paper after it has been printed.

THOMAS, H. STAOKHOUSE.

Witnesses:

MORRIS E. BOCKIUS, CHAS. A. BUTLER.

